Using an AI tool does not automatically prevent a person from receiving copyright protection for an original work. But simply asking a model to generate material does not necessarily make the output copyrightable.
In a January 2025 report, the U.S. Copyright Office concluded that existing principles of human authorship remain central. Human-created expression can be protected even when AI is used in the process, while purely AI-generated material is generally outside that protection.
The Office emphasized that individual cases depend on the actual human contributions and creative decisions. A prompt alone may not be enough, while meaningful selection, arrangement or modification can matter.
The distinction is relevant to publishers, artists and software creators. It is also one reason a newsroom should document who created, edited and approved a story.
This article is a source-linked explainer, not a claim of firsthand interviews or exclusive reporting.
We want errors brought to our attention and corrected openly.
Corrections and feedback